Does oxypentifylline reduce the intensity of acute graft-versus-host disease following allogeneic bone marrow transplantation?
From 1988 to 1993, a retrospective analysis of the severity of acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) was carried out in two groups of patients undergoing allogeneic bone marrow transplantation for various haematological disorders. One group of 23 patients received oxypentifylline in a dose of 400 mg, 6 hourly, orally, day -10 to day +35 in addition to other standard management received by the control group of 20 patients. Acute GVHD was scored in each patient according to the Seattle criteria. Patients receiving oxypentifylline showed a lower GVHD score in each organ-specific area and this reached significance with the total GVHD score. A significantly smaller proportion of patients in the treatment group developed acute GVHD of grade 2 or more. It is concluded that oxypentifylline used in the present dosage reduces the intensity of acute GVHD following allogeneic bone marrow transplantation and is also well tolerated by the patient.
